


French Fries and Tired Eyes

by foreverfangirlwrites



Series: How We Could Have Met [9]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe, Annabeth's a lil shit, First Meetings, One Shot, a mood, and french fries, and the epic coke v pepsi debate, being life, feat. mcdonalds, if that makes any sense, it's great tho, life - Freeform, tired boi percy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-23
Updated: 2019-09-23
Packaged: 2020-10-27 03:10:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,826
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20753363
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/foreverfangirlwrites/pseuds/foreverfangirlwrites
Summary: Percy's perpetually tired and prefers Pepsi, Annabeth can't believe it and neither have any idea of what's to come... oh and it all starts with french fries.





	French Fries and Tired Eyes

He’s tired. He can’t fathom why since he just took a three-hour nap but tired is a perpetual state nowadays so he really shouldn’t be surprised. 

Life right now is not what he expected, he thinks on his commute, driving 20 on a highway. But then again, he’s not really sure what he expected. In fact, he’s pretty sure he didn’t have any expectations at all.

He’s never really known what he wants to do, that hasn’t changed. He really should figure it out. It’s a whole thing though...did he mention he’s tired?

Work isn’t bad, it just…is. He doesn’t hate it but he’s not in love with it either and he thinks he should find something else but he’s not sure what he’s looking for.

The traffic eases up a bit and he’s able to do 45 for a solid minute until the brake lights come into view. The guy behind him is literally up his ass and he starts braking early for safety reasons (and to annoy the guy literally tailgating him).

There’s at least another 40 minutes left. He yawns. For the fourth time. 

He’s supposed to be doing all this stuff he planned for himself, ways to keep busy and be productive, but he’s lost all enthusiasm and will to do any of it. He hopes it’s just a passing state. He doesn’t particularly want to get into it. The thought tires him even more.

Home means crawling into bed within three minutes of closing the front door and shucking off clothes and proceeding to render himself immobile. 

The nap, as previously established, is not helpful because he’s still feeling the vague sense of ever-present exhaustion looming over him. He’s not worse or better for it.

He wants fries and a shake and he’s been holding off because adults have the “we have food at home” talk with themselves but he’s too tired to even argue with himself.

McDonalds is the closest place, unsurprisingly, and they have a special on drinks.

He stares blankly at the menu for a solid two minutes. 

“How can I help you?” the girl at the counter asks. Probably because he’s the only one in there (even more shocking) and he’s been staring at the menu like he can’t read.

“I wanted fries and a shake but you guys have a drink special and Pepsi sounds good right now.”

He’s not sure why he’s spilled his entire thought process to this woman but clearly the exhaustion is overtaking him.

“Pepsi?”

He looks back down at her in surprise. She’s raising an eyebrow at him and he can’t believe _that’s_ her reaction. She’s clearly a manager or something, filling in for someone, and he’s pretty sure the employees are not supposed to judge the customer’s orders. Not to their face at least.

“Yeah, what’s wrong with that?” he replies, admittedly a little defensively. 

“Nothing, nothing at all.” It doesn’t sound like nothing.

“Are you judging me?” He can’t help but ask. He’s in this now. 

“No!” she responds quickly, shaking her head so fast her ponytail swishes. “I just…haven’t really met anyone who starts out with Pepsi, usually it’s the fallback.”

He can’t believe what he’s hearing.

“Are you telling me you work at a fast food place where people commonly get soda and you haven’t met a single person who prefers Pepsi?” He doesn’t even try to keep the incredulity out of his voice. 

“Most people just ask for a drink, they don’t mention what the drink is.” Now she’s being a little defensive. But she makes a good point.

“Fair…but seriously, what do you have against Pepsi?”

She shrugs. “Honestly? Nothing. I can’t tell the difference between them.”

He just stares at her. This woman has thrown him for a loop at least three times during this one conversation. It’s astounding, if not impressive.

“What do you mean? There is a very clear difference between the two!” He even throws his hands up in the air to make his point. 

She shakes her head and gives him an apologetic grin. “Sorry, but I honestly don’t think there’s that big of a difference. I mean, it’s all cola.”

She raises her eyebrows, clearly not buying it, and that thrown in with that grin she’s wearing makes him even more indignant. Though if he’s being honest, he’s loving this and her smile is really cute. 

“Are you trying to imply that I don’t know the difference?”

She raises her hands in surrender. “I’m not commenting on what you know or don’t know, I’m just saying that most people who claim to know probably don’t.”

“Try me.” He’s not sure why he said that or what he expected to from it but all of a sudden she’s narrowing her eyes and grabbing two cups.

“Don’t look,” she says as she steps out from behind the counter and walk to the drinks. 

He stays true to his word and stares directly ahead at the other employees doing their jobs and making stuff for the drive thru. The drive thru is where it’s at, evidently. But then again, walking in was way more of an adventure.

He’s not even sure how he’s gotten into this whole thing, and frankly can’t believe he’s having a pseudo argument with the manager of a McDonalds, and not over a messed-up order. 

“Alright,” she announces as she walks back into view. “Let’s see if you can tell.”

The two cups are half filled with presumably Coke and Pepsi and they obviously look the same. He doesn’t know how she knows which is which.

He picks up the cup to his right and takes a sip. He’s almost positive it’s Pepsi. 

She’s watching him and he decides to hold back comments until he tries the other one. The other one is probably not Pepsi. She’s right, it’s a very close call.

But ready to stick to his claim he holds up the one on his right and relays confidently, “This is Pepsi.”

She doesn’t react for a second and he could be dead wrong but at least he’s committed. 

“Well damn,” are the next words out of her mouth, “you’re right.”

“Yes!” He celebrates his victory for a hot second and when he looks back at her she’s got a smirk on her face.

“Awful lot of celebrating for someone who said he was a hundred percent positive.”

He gives her a look because she’s kind of right but also, she’s just being a sore loser.

“You’re just upset I got it right.”

She breaks out into a proper smile at that. “Nah, I’m impressed you did. You know, for proving me wrong, you get that drink for free, how about that?”

He smiles back because this entire thing was a whole lot more fun than he was letting on, and she was, honestly, great.

“Thanks! I will admit it was tougher than I expected,” he relents. 

“Ha! I knew it! Still though, you get this one on me.”

He’s been in this McDonalds for five minutes so far and has not ordered a single thing despite being the only customer to walk in. 

He can see some of the other employees looking at him as if to figure out what was taking so long and what their boss was up to. 

“Well, I guess this settles the shake or drink debate,” he says looking at the menu once more. 

“Why don’t you get both?” she responds.

He looks back at her. “That’s…a weird flavor combination…”

She rolls her eyes. “Well I presume you’re getting something to eat too, I’m not saying consume them one after another.” 

“Um…I just wanted a large fry,” he responds a little meekly given her very valid point.

She punches in the order. “Anything else?” It’s almost like a challenge, like she’s daring him to add on the shake. 

The nerve of her. He holds back a smile.

“No, that’s it.”

“Alright,” she says and gives him his total. She slides him back the Pepsi cup once he’s done paying and moves to get the fries.

“Here you go,” she says handing him the fries and flashing him a warm smile. He can’t help but smile back.

“Thanks.”

And he means it. He’s not sure if it’s the fries or her, but somehow that ever present tiredness is starting to fade away, just a bit.

-.-.-.-

He never got that shake. That’s how he justifies walking in at the same time the next day. The blonde ponytail is the first thing he sees. He walks away with a strawberry shake because the intense discussion between chocolate and vanilla never quite got resolved and strawberry was a safe bet when the mom and two kids walked in and cut the conversation short.

He never got her number. That’s how he justifies walking in at the same time the day after. The stormy grey eyes are nowhere to be seen but he asks the gangly teen at the counter for the manager and gets no questions, most likely because he’s probably being remembered as the guy who comes in and spends fifteen minutes at the counter only to walk away with one item.

She shows up from somewhere in the back and he’s a little awkward, and phrases it something like, “We never got to finish that chocolate vs. vanilla debate so…how do you feel about coffee?”

He walks away twenty minutes later from an epic discussion on coffee vs. tea along with a number.

Two days later after a lot of coffee/tea emojis, the discussion comes to an end with the consensus that at least Starbucks has both. 

Her hair is down and her eyes are sparkling when they meet up and she’s making him feel all sorts of butterflies.

He’s nervous for maybe three minutes before she asks his opinion on almond milk and they don’t leave till closing. 

“What are your thoughts on dinner?” he asks as they’re basically kicked out of the Starbucks.

Dinner, then lunch, then coming over, then going out, and so on until he’s driving home once again, going 20 on a highway.

Life right is still not what he expected, but then again there was no way he could have expected all this, expected _her_. He guesses there’s no point in expecting anything, really. Life has a way of throwing everything for a loop.

Traffic eases up enough for him to go 45 and he yawns when he has to slow down again. He’s still tired. 

When he gets home, he crawls straight into bed where a sleeping girlfriend is already way ahead of him. The nap is supposed to help but, really, he’s not better or worse for it.

What does help is challenging grey eyes and messy blonde hair and a smile that gets his heart thumping in a way that he forgets what tired is.

**Author's Note:**

> So what did you think? Honestly Percy is a mood and this fic maybe my secret wish because that’d be a great twist to my hour commute going 20 and constant tiredness lol. This one kinda just happened because I’ve been feeling the weight of life lately, but ya know, it’s taking an upturn.
> 
> Like I said in the story, life has a way of twisting and turning in unexpected ways and you never know!
> 
> Please Comment! I’d love to hear your thoughts!  
And as always, thanks for reading!
> 
> See ya! :)


End file.
